This is a big game with big ramifications for both teams involved. The Broncos are winning their division despite being 5-5 and are coming off a big win last week.  A loss all but seals the Bears fate, and a win keeps a small glimmer of hope alive for a floundering Bears team.  So far this season we have only kept a 1-3 record at home and haven't protected our house so to speak.  This is a big game indeed for the Bears.

Our passing attack could very well be shut down.  They don't come much better than Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, and they are excellent shut down corners.  John Lynch still has some gas left in the tank and prides himself on being a hard hitting safety.  The front 7 of the Broncos leaves some to be desired and is susceptible to the run.  here's hoping that Benson can find that magic mojo he had last week and unleash it on a suspect run defense.  All in all, people have proved this year that you can score on the Broncos, but I believe more than ever that we have to firmly establish the running game, and give Benson the ball 20 times.

The Broncos have a horrible situation at RB.  Bell is facing charges and not living up to expectations, Young is hurt and they projected the 3rd string as the back who will get the most carries.  We have to take advantage of this.  We cannot let them run wild on our defense.  I know that Shannahan is notorious for making any back work in his system, but we have to take advantage of this situation.  Jay Cutler isn't the second coming of Elway, but he has some talented receivers and he can get them the ball.  Our passing defense has been horrible lately, and we have to kick it up a notch.  Hopefully with a young QB our defense can apply pressure and force him into some dumb mistakes.

Our Defense needs to force turnovers.  We have been having a drought.

The coaching staff has to shape up.  They need to do better with match ups and Turner has to stop experimenting with our offense.  He needs to stick with what works.  I hope they properly utilize Benson, Olson, and Hester.

We need this game, and if we get blown out or don't show any signs of life I am going to start looking towards spoiler games and the draft.  I am tired of seeing a lack of effort, and I am tired of seeing the Coaching staff muck things uo.  I want to see some passion... I want to see a win.

This is going to be a wild game for sure on Sunday.  I agree with WCG, this is a hard game to break down.  The Seahawks have been having a quasi disappointing season thus far, yet they are poised to run away with their division and make another trip to the playoffs.  At 5-4 they stand atop their division 1 game ahead of Arizona.  Looking at it from that perspective they seem to be doing well, but they are underachieving and as said before completely inconsistent.  They have been blanked by the Steelers, and loss close games to Arizona, New Orleans, and Cleveland.  This was a team that was expected to be one of the best in the NFC and hasn't lived up to that billing just yet.  Furthermore, they have a much maligned player in Shawn Alexander who has been underperforming and has been christened to die by BDD in his most recent Jamboroo .  Furthermore, I just found out he isn't even starting, this has been a bad year for him.  I see him as a similar player to Benson; a big power runner who can't seem to create for himself when a superior line isn't opening up holes.  

I want to talk about some match-ups, but before I do I want to highlight a very important aspect of this game that I think may be overlooked.  We beat these guys pretty bad last year.  In the fourth week we smoked them on Sunday night football and made them look silly.  In the playoffs we got away with a close one as our defense took away the ball in OT and Rex Grossman put Robbie Gould in position to win the game with a 49 yard bomb.  In case you forgot the Seahawks were really upset after the game. I think that the Seahawks are coming into this game with a huge chip on their shoulder.  It is hard enough to play in Seattle as it is, and throw in the revenge factor and we have an interesting game on our hands.  Lets look at some key match-ups after the jump.

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This is it, this is the game that the Bears turn it all around and make their push to the play offs.  At least that is what better happen.  

Regardless of what does happen, Cedric Benson should consider this his last chance.  Oakland is giving up a whopping 152.5 yards per game on the ground.  I don't care how old or banged up our line is, we should be able to get meaningful yardage there.

On the reverse side, Oakland is one of the league's best defenses against the pass allowing only 179 per game.

This works against the Bears in both regards.  The Bears are currently rushing for only 78.9 yards a game, but have been steadily moving up the list passing for 217 a game, while scoring 18 points per game.

Opponents are scoring 22 points per game on the Raiders.

On the reverse, Oakland is not a threat in the air averaging 166.4 yards passing, combined efforts of a revolving door of QBs, but are 4th in the league rushing the ball pulling in 140 yards per game.

On the defensive side, the Bears are allowing 130 yards on the ground and 227 through the air.

Throwing the numbers out the window, the Bears are a better team and should win easily, but then again we are supposed to be a Super Bowl conteder.

At least Oakland's coach is planning on kicking to Hester where the over/under on TDs for him is 2.

This Sunday the Bears are breaking out the alternate orange jerseys.  Join them.

If you are at the game, wear as much orange as possible.

The Bears had a lot of explaining to do after they allowed the Lions to drop 34 points in the fourth quarter back in late September. On the plus side for the D, unlike the first game versus the Lions the Bears will have back Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs and Adam Archuleta all of who missed the first game.  The Bears will also have a QB who isn't starting his first game in 2 years.

This defense still has a lot to prove. They have given up a lot of points late in games and had it not been for the Bears last minute 97-yard TD drive last week, they would have given up the go ahead TD late in the game to the Eagles.

The Bears are currently giving up an average of 357.4 yards per game ranking them 25th.  They are 26th versus the rush allowing 132.6 yards per game and 27th against the pass giving up 224.9 per game.  Those are numbers that makes Bears fans sick to their stomach.  The Bears are giving up 23.6 points per game.

Detroit's offense is ranked 16th.  They get 85.5 (27th) yards on the ground and 243 (7th) through the air.  They have Kevin Jones back in the line up and while he is still not a huge threat it does boost their run game.  The Lions score 23.3 points per game which is good for 10th in the NFL.

On the flip side, the Bears offense has been taking big strides at least on the passing side of the ball.  They are currently 16th in passing yards (220.6).  Brian Griese has stabilized this portion of the offense.  Now if we can only get out abysmal running game going.  The Bears are the only team that does not have a rush of over 20 yards.  They rank 30th in rushing yards with 81.1 per game.  The Bears average 19.6 a game though that number is increasing each week.

Detroit's defense is not good at all.  This should result in another big game for the Bears.  They give up 116.5 rush yards and 269.3 pass yards.

Things to Watch:

--Brian Griese currently has an 86 percent QB rating, 17th in he league.  Can Griese go for his 3rd straight 300 yard game?

--After Philly had some success by not kicking to Devin Hester even once, will Detroit, who Hester destroyed last meeting, have the stones to kick to him?  And what 'surprises' do the Bears have in store to get the ball to Hester?

--The Bears need to address the run game and soon.  The colder weather is coming and running becomes more important.  Whether it is making changes on the line or at back, they need to jump start the run game.  Ced's 3.1 average will bury us later in the year.

--Can the Bear's regain some of what they used to be against one of the league's best passing games?

This is a game that we all saw coming when the schedule was released, but I am sure none of us thought it would turn out quite this way. Before the season everybody was buying the stock of the Bears, Eagles, Saints, and Cowboys.  Right now the combined wins of the Bears, Saints and Eagles equals the wins of the 'boys. This is a big game, and that never changed, but instead of it being a match up of NFC elite it has become a fight for life in between to struggling franchises.

It is pretty safe to say that this is a must win game. Winning at Philadelphia would give us some much needed momentum and hopefully carry us to a home match with Detroit and into the bye week. The rest of our schedule isn't exactly a cakewalk, but winning two going into the bye would be a welcome sight for all involved.

Thankfully the leader of our team has already communicated the importance of this game and our performance throughout the rest of the year. Furthermore, I was impressed with the linebackers for taking blame in the tribune today. With Urlacher and Hillenmier leading the way  asking that we not take out our frustration on Bob Babich.

It is very refreshing to see guys take responsibility for their failure on the field, but now they need to back it up. Obviously our defense has been hurting, but they been just plain bad bad as well. A couple of players are preforming well (Briggs, Tillman), but others are failing or struggling to play through injury (Harris, Archuleta, Urlacher, Hillenmeyer).  The fact of the matter is that they haven't been preforming.

This is a huge game for both teams, and we have a big chance to preform.

Some key match ups for the game after the jump...

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It just pains me to see how low we rank in defenses.

The Bears hobble into Ford Field this Sunday to take on the offensively potent Detroit Lions in the first of three straight divisional games.  

The news of the week is of course the benching of Rex Grossman in favor of Brian Griese.  This could be the best possible team to play in hopes of getting a struggling offense moving.  Detroit comes in with a worse defensive rating than Dallas did last week.  They cannot stop the pass or the run, so the Bears have opportunities here to put up points and putting up points is exactly what they must do.  With the Bears balls to the wall, could this possibly be the time we see Devin Hester and Garrett Wolfe?  Highly unlikely.  I think if the Bears fail to put up some points, it might be time to start looking at how Ron Turner is calling games.  Even a crap offense should be able to do a little scoring against a D such as this.

Detroit boasts one of the best passing attacks in the league and they hit the worse possible time.  The Bears will likely be without their top two cornerbacks (Vashar claims he will play), forcing Ricky Manning and Corey Payne into stepping up.  Ricky Manning isn't the worst possible fill in, far from it actually.  The Bears do catch one break as it looks like Calvin Johnson might not be able to go.  Safety Adam Archuleta is playing with a broken hand which could also put more playing time on the table for Brandon McGowan and Kevin Payne.

The Bears will not have to worry about the Lions run game, because there simply isn't one.  The Lions come in averaging 67 total yards per game.  This could really help out the Bears D.  Not needing to stack the line will allow them to drop more into coverage and let this line go after the QB.

While this came isn't a make or break game for the Bears, it is an extremely important one.  With Green Bay looking to run away with things, they cannot let the Packers and Detroit get multiple game leads.  

Huge games by Dallas and Philadelphia destroyed all numbers for both the Bears and Lions.

I have to say with this defense being dead last in turnover ration is disgusting.

The illustrious blogger, Grizz, over at Blogging The Boys was good enough to answers some Cowboys related questions for us.